WHEN THE PHONE WAS TIED WITH A WIRE, HUMANS ARE FREE
By : Wisudho Harsanto
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| Humans are free, the phone was tied a wire |
Looking back to previous century, where connectivity was a luxury. Especially for mid-low class workers, the ordinary citizens.
Telephone, telegraph, facsimile, were top 3 contact channels in business and working. Popular tools of Gen-baby boomers and Gen-X. Those tools were tied by wire, and stationed.
Also other working tool - a PC - tied by wire on the desk. We called it : desk-top computer. Put also PO Box to name the vintage tool.
Working hour is clearly defined : 8 to5 for the office. 6 to 2, 2 to 10, 10 to 6 for those in shift-operation basis. Or any other working roster agreed.
It was very hard to connect by wire after working hours. Especially when employer wants to call employee. Not every worker has the luxury of fixed-line telephone at home. Public-phone was not helping much.
Employer was difficult to contact employees. They should survive without bothering employee at home. A better anticipated plan will help. Sounds tough live compare to nowadays? Not really !!
Would you see from different perspective? Disconnection can be a blessing. When employer fails to connect employee after working hour, sounds like a freedom. 😀😀
Employees could start their true life, really free from working distractions, e.g. unnecessary calls from the boss.
Boss should wait until tommorrow. And that's alright at the pevious century. Work and life were balanced by nature of limitation. Disconnectivity helped a lot.
Wireless technology untied the phone from the desk. Telecommunication and multimedia are converged into one gadget : smart-phone. Unlimited connectivity from anywhere-anytime more affordable in 7/24/365. Not a luxury anymore.
Over-connectivity is real problem nowadays, while under-connectivity was alright in the past. Shall we blame all of the laziness of humankind to technology?
Smart-gadget, indeed only fit for smart-users. Those users who has the sufficient literacy for their tools.
So, they control the tools. Not the other way around.
So, what about a boss or co-worker whom called you after working hour? Either a call for a true-emergency, or they just not smart-users for their smart-gadget.😀😀
Simply, smart-users know when they have to disconnect with their smart-gadget and enjoy their life. Both for caller and receiver. Otherwise, smart-gadget controls stupid-user. Becoming a gadget-addict. Such a tragedy.
Wondering, which one is mine?
Coment :
1. Totally agreed with your state on "disconnectivity helped a lot". Sometimes we need to be free from any gadget around us. Ironically, the situation nowadays seems to be different from our expectations
2. pasti saya angkat Pak sesuai komitmen di awal, Foreman operation saya pun pernah telp saya jam 01:30 pagi karena hal emergency dan harus di ambil tindakan saat itu juga (kebetulan atasannya langsung gak angkat, dia terpaksa call saya dini hari itu dan saya apresiasi juga, daripada saya dikabarin pagi hari tapi kami terlambat ambil tindakan)
3. no gadget on dining table and one hour a day + weekend gadget day was my biggest achievement as a father for my kids 2 years ago. And then covid came and ruin everything and now they do the homework and online class on dining table all together with me on WFH supervising their SFH making sure they don't switch screen or press alt+tab hehe.. Let alone gadget issues and now we have to deal with this "new normal" habbit simultaneously at the same time in our lives. No more turned off all wires after five , we even connected 24/7 now to the network. As a proffesional and a parent...this is not an evolution, its a revolution haha.
4. Gen X or Y who had grown up before gadget invasions in late 90's must have the capability...
5. Or maybe life itself already changing pak? Survival of the fittest change to survival to get connected.
